Merry Christmas strangers! The Drabblecast has something rather wicked fixed up for you this holiday season! We present to you a festive tale from fan-favorite Tim Pratt! It’s called “Dirty Santa.”

It’s a story that takes us on a journey with one awkward, balding, twenty-something to a Christmas party where he meets a mysterious stranger carrying a mystical and dangerous gift. This is a white elephant he’ll probably never forget.
Story Excerpt:

Kieran wallflowered. The apartment was a bustle of twenty other people more extroverted and festive than himself, all dressed in the requisite hideous holiday sweaters, drinking bourbon punch and rum punch and some sort of strange vegan eggnog, flirting and joking and ranting and, in one case, openly making out against a wall underneath a dangling branch of mistletoe.

As death appeared over the hills of snow
The old man’s smile fell away
The end was near
His posture cantered to one side
Weighed down by a scarf that had now frozen solid around his neck
“What senseless meaning lay behind this existence?” he pondered. “What maker gave life, only to have me watch it melt away, all alone?”
His face began to glisten and droop in the noon day sun.
“If winter is the end, then what is the beginning?”
As his silk hat fell away
He hoped and he prayed that he’d be back again
Some day

That was a fantastic story. The last line... "it was the thought that counts"... was a brutal kick in the head. The protagonist sure as hell deserved the gift... and to have it stolen. What... The... F##k.

I don't think Norm gets enough credit for his episode intros. This one was fantastic. Truly inspired. Even though I listened to the episode in February it made me feel all Christmassy inside. And the story was a nice blast from Drabblecast past. Loved the skull Xmas sweater.

I don't think Norm gets enough credit for his episode intros. This one was fantastic. Truly inspired. Even though I listened to the episode in February it made me feel all Christmassy inside. And the story was a nice blast from Drabblecast past. Loved the skull Xmas sweater.

They're one of the reasons I reactivated my monthly donation. Uncle Norm's an odd duck. A smart duck. A tentacled duck.